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It’s been a while since Chevrolet made an appearance at the Tokyo Auto Salon. And judging by the dismal sales figures for the brand in the region, it’s easy to understand the lack of effort. But in any case, Chevy is overdue for some much-needed exposure in the Land of the Rising Sun, and looks to make a splash during the 2013 show, which happens January 11-13, just before the official start of the 2013 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

While information is extremely limited at this time (and only readable thanks to Google Translate), we are able to make out that there will be a trio of Chevy concepts, which are a Camaro, Captiva and Sonic.

All we currently know about the Camaro is that it features a set of Giovanna wheels, and that’s about it. As for the Captiva, it goes by the official name of “Captiva Freedom Rider”, and is equipped with 20-inch Gianna Crown wheels and sports a carbon flash metallic hue complimented by sky blue fenders and side skirts, and a roof-mounted bicycle to match.

Lastly, the Chevrolet Sonic Street Icon features an aggressive red and black getup, and is meant to appeal to the “street generation,” or something like that.

The Captiva we know from fleet service (former Vue) is called the Captiva Sport in other counties. The Captiva (without the sport, except for the US) is actually a different, and I believe newer design, vehicle. I don’t know what’s stranger – the naming system or the reasons why other countries need these vehicles, but not the US. Part of the reason for the Captiva and Caprice being fleet only has something to do with legal issues related to “retiring” the Saturn and Pontiac names, then re-introducing those vehicles with another brand at retail without significantly changing them.

From Auto-Guide: Re-introducing a car after it’s already been sold isn’t as quite as simple as prying one badge off and gluing another on.

Because of franchising laws in certain states, the Caprice can’t come to retail market because it’s essentially a repurposed Pontiac G8, same with the Saturn Vue and the Chev Captiva. Those laws don’t apply across the country and can differ from state to state, but seem to be significant enough to prevent en immediate re-release. I think the intent of the law is to protect dealers from a manufacturer telling them to close the doors because they will no longer make a product (ie Saturn, Pontiac), but then offer it under a different name, which they can’t sell.

The new SS will need to be significantly different looking than the Pontiac G8 for GM to sell it at retail.

not sure what the law’s definition of what significant change is, but there is much more differentiation between the new acadia/outlook (entire front clip, dash board, tail lights) than there is on the vue/captiva (only a minor grill change). That article also stated that GM had to add the V8 to the Buick Ranier to create enough changes when they resurrected the Bravada with a Buick grill and nameplates after the Olds dealers were shut down. The article said they doubted anyone would challenge GM as to how well they are conforming to the law – the only ones who might have an issue with it shut down their dealerships a few years ago.